It is quite
disturbing to note that many
matriculation schools have disproportionately huge strength; some of the have
even above 10000 mark. Analysis of cross-country data shows that the optimum
student strength of a well equipped school with qualified teachers is 3000-5000.
A school having more than the optimum level is considered as unfit for
harmonious schooling, in which students are able to get proper attention and
care. Crowding of thousands of students in a cramped space is against the
tenets of education. The foundation for the growth and development of an
individual is laid during his schooling. When too many children are huddled in
a single campus, often cramped without even the basic facilities essential
amenities, it becomes naturally unsuited to provide proper education. The
prospects of a child receiving adequate
attention and proper facilities for
sports, games and other extracurricular activities, which play a dominant role
in molding the character, temperament and personality, will be thinly spread, i.e.
the facilities and amenities per student
get diminished in proportion to the rise in the total strength of students.
Keeping in mind the above factors, rules do not allow a matriculation school to
have more than four sections per class.
And in exceptional cases schools can seek approval for a fifth section,
if needed, from the district inspector of matriculation schools. It is welcome
move that the school education department has instructed institutions to
restrict the number of sections for each class to five or fewer, in keeping
with the Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools formulated in 1990.
Therefore, it is surprising and shocking, to say the least, to know that one
school in Chennai City is having student strength of 12000, and a number of
other schools in the state, especially in Chennai and in the Salem-Namakkal
belt, are having student strength much
above the level fixed by the government. What
has the school education department officials been doing all these years? Why
have they turned a blind eye to such a nefarious act by the unscrupulous school
managements, whose only motive is to earn hefty profit? Is it not an act of
profit maximisation at the cost of
school going children? Such an
undesirable act of dumping too many children in cramped premises by the school
managements should not have been possible without the connivance of government
officials. It appears that corruption
and bribery are the reason behind official apathy. Therefore, the government
should order a high level inquiry into this grave act of permitting too many batches
in a class beyond the prescribed limit and give severe punishment to those
officials found guilty. The department of school education should strictly
enforce the institutions to restrict the number of sections for each class to
five or fewer, in keeping with the Code of Regulations for Matriculation
Schools formulated in 1990.
Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Nov.10,
2012
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